Monument keyboard description. Keyboard monument, ekaterinburg, russia

Description

In the center of Yekaterinburg, on the embankment of the Iset River, there is a "monument to Klava" - a concrete monument reproducing a computer keyboard on a scale of 30:1. This is the largest computer keyboard in the world. The monument consists of 86 keys, weighing from 100 to 500 kg, made of concrete. The keys are located in recesses, with an interval of 15 cm. The total area of ​​the project is 16 x 4 sq.m. The surface of the keys is flat with embossed symbols for the alphabet and function symbols, placed in the same order as on the regular keyboard. computer keyboard. The project was made in 2005 by the Ural artist Anatoly Vyatkin as part of the Long Stories of Yekaterinburg 3 festival.

Story

From the point of view of history, the computer entered our lives relatively recently. And the monument to the keyboard in Yekaterinburg is, moreover, quite young, its opening took place on October 5, 2005. The creation of the Yekaterinburg artist Anatoly Vyatkin is installed on the second tier of the Iset River embankment, from the side of Gogol Street. 86 concrete keys weighing about 80 kilograms each (but the "space" weighs as much as half a ton) are placed in the same order as in standard (qwerty) keyboards.

The installation of the monument took place as part of the Ural Urban Action "Long Stories of Yekaterinburg". According to the organizers of this festival, the townspeople reacted positively to the appearance of the monument. People constantly come to the embankment to make photos unique. sculptural composition. Little children are very happy, they are happy to jump on the "letters", and parents say that here you can learn the alphabet.

In 2011 the Perm Museum contemporary art PERMM offered to move the keyboard to Perm, because in Yekaterinburg they are not properly taken care of. Then it lacked a few keys, and instead of the Windows logo, someone drew Apple logo. The keyboard was repaired by the initiative group, and it remained in Yekaterinburg. Since then, subbotniks have been regularly held, during which the keys are painted and restored if necessary.

Ural residents believe that the concrete keyboard can be viewed as "an experiment that forms a new communication environment on the territory of the city embankment." New monument quickly began to affect the entire surrounding space. The old stone house located nearby is now called nothing more than a "system block". But for several centuries, the main city river Iset, the meaning of the name of which has long been lost for modern residents, thanks to the activity of forums about the appearance of " Stone Klava", is now written as "Iset". There are also ideas to place monuments to the modem nearby, as well as to perpetuate the computer mouse in the monument.

The project ingeniously combines the values ​​of Western and Eastern civilizations. This is not only a monument to an object of mass consumption, embodying a certain stage in the development of Western technological culture, but also landscape composition, which reproduces the tradition of the oriental rock garden. So, Yekaterinburg keyboard quite suitable for the territory where the border of Europe and Asia passes.

Which is popularly called the "System Block" - because of its convenient location next to the Keyboard Monument. So it makes sense that the next stop on our route would be the keyboard itself…

Since, according to our data, there is nothing like it anywhere except Yekaterinburg, we can say that the capital of the Urals has the largest keyboard in the world!

The monument was born from a simple idea - the artist was looking for a kind of "symbol of the era", something that descendants will associate with our days. Already in the process of working on the project, another thought appeared - the artist suddenly saw this monument as a place where two spaces intersect: real and virtual. We communicate so often on the Web today that sometimes we forget about simple human communication. Therefore, each key is also an impromptu bench.

In September 2005, when the installation of the monument was underway, the Swiss scientist Niklaus Wirth, the author of the Pascal language, flew to Yekaterinburg. Having learned that a monument to the keyboard was about to appear in the city, he became very interested in the project and became its first visitor.

And after the installation of the monument, another meaning was born - already among culturologists. "Klava" began to be perceived as a symbol of the connection between Europe and Asia, which is especially important, given the situation in Yekaterinburg. Why? Yes, because the sculpture itself is dedicated to technology that came from Europe, and symbolizes Western values: instant search for information, inclusion in the news flow, a computerized world ... But the object itself reminds many of the eastern "rock garden". And the values ​​there are completely opposite: the ability to contemplate, reflect, observe... certain meaning. Meetings are often scheduled at Klava, people come here on dates, here you can meet lovers of reading, dreaming, and drawing. With laptops, too, of course, come. There are enough seats for everyone.

Photo by Alexander Zaitsev.

Despite the considerable weight of the keys, by June 2011, several of them ... were stolen. How this was done and who (and most importantly, why) needed an 80-kilogram concrete key is unknown. In August 2011, the monument was reconstructed.

The author of the sculpture, artist Anatoly Vyatkin, said in an interview with the press that the idea to make the “Keyboard Monument” came unexpectedly. He worked on one of the projects for international exhibition. I spent a lot of time at the computer and realized that the keyboard today - the same "common place as a frying pan" - is in almost every home. Soon after, with the support of the art community and Yekaterinburg businessmen, work began on the manufacture of sculpture details. It turned out to be more difficult than it might look for a person who did not sculpt. Concrete is an extremely heavy material for sculpture. In addition, the weight of the keys ranged from 80 to several hundred kilograms.

"Monument to the keyboard" became the first landscape sculpture in Yekaterinburg. Critics see it as a combination of Europe and Asia. Such a technical tool for communication between people, like a keyboard, is presented in the form of an Asian rock garden, where people come for creative purposes. However, local residents are certainly attracted not only by this. Unlike other sculptures, you can sit on the "Keyboard", you can walk on it and jump from one letter to another. Parents claim that thanks to this sculpture, children learn the alphabet faster, and active computer users believe in another practical meaning. Urban legends say that if you make a wish and “type” it on the keyboard, jumping from letter to letter, then “press” “Enter”, then it will certainly come true. And in case there are difficulties, you need to jump on “CTRL, ALT, DEL”, after which life will “reboot”.

Sculpture influenced not only the emergence of new urban myths, but also the names of neighboring buildings. So, the river Iset locals jokingly called by analogy with the name of computers "Iset". The old building nearby is called the "system block".

The popularity of the sculpture is so great that it was included in the route "Red Line of Yekaterinburg", which runs along the asphalt through 30 main cultural objects downtown.

One day several keys disappeared from the keyboard. Recall that the weight of each of them is at least 80 kg. Then the artists suggested moving the monument to Perm. However, after the protests of the townspeople, entrepreneurs financed the restoration. Since then, Klava has been standing, or rather, lying in its place, continuing to surprise tourists and delight Yekaterinburg residents.

Where is the keyboard monument located?

1. Location of the monument: Yekaterinburg
   Date of opening of the monument: October 5, 2005
   Material the monument is made of: Concrete
   Description external monument: The key surface is flat with embossed alphabet and function symbols arranged in the same order as on a conventional computer keyboard
   Dimensions: Width 4 m, length 16 m
   Author of the monument project: Anatoly Vyatkin
2. keyboard monument
   Location of the monument. Ekaterinburg
   Date of opening of the monument October 5, 2005
   Material from which the monument is made Concrete
   Description of appearanceThe monument consists of 86 keys

   Dimensions The total area of ​​the project is 16x4 sq. m.
   length 16m (52ft) width 4m (13ft)
   Author of the monument project Anatoly Vyatkin

3. http://turism.ws/ - Here is the most relevant information.
4. From the point of view of history, the computer entered our lives relatively recently. And the monument to the keyboard in Yekaterinburg is, moreover, quite young, its opening took place on October 5, 2005. The creation of the Yekaterinburg artist Anatoly Vyatkin is installed on the second tier of the Iset River embankment, from the side of Gogol Street. 86 concrete keys weighing about 80 kilograms each (but the "space" weighs as much as half a ton) are placed in the same order as in standard (qwerty) keyboards.
5. I have it on my closet.
6. The monument to the keyboard of Anatoly Vyatkin is the first land-art sculpture in Yekaterinburg, located on the second tier of the embankment of the I Seti River, from the side of Gogol Street.

   A flat area adjacent to the stairs was chosen for the monument. historical building located on the waterfront. The monument consists of 86 keys, weighing from 100 to 500 kg, made of concrete.

   The keys are located in recesses, with an interval of 15 cm. The total area of ​​the project is 16 x 4 sq. m. m. The surface of the keys is flat with embossed symbols of the alphabet and function symbols, placed in the same order as on a conventional computer keyboard.

   The Concrete Keyboard can be viewed as a fetish of the computer age and as a kind of rock garden, a large-scale, environmental experiment that forms a new communication environment on the territory of the city embankment. Each button on the concrete keyboard is a makeshift bench on which passers-by sit.

   The Keyboard Monument is the first monument in the city that fits not only into the local, but also into the international context. The computer keyboard is an international symbol of communication between people all over the world and an object without which the existence of modern humanity is unthinkable.

   The monument influenced the symbolic reinterpretation of the entire surrounding space and a sharp increase in its creativity. The old stone house located nearby is now called the system block.

   The main city river ISET, which has existed for several centuries - the meaning of the name of which has already been lost for modern residents, thanks to the activity of forums regarding the opening of the keyboard, is now written as Iset, where it is proposed to place a monument to the modem. Passers-by constantly fantasize about the possible placement of a monument to the Monitor and the computer mouse.

The keyboard was created in 2005 as a special project of the Long Stories of Yekaterinburg festival, designed by Anatoly Vyatkin. The producers and curators of the project were Nailya Allahverdiyeva and Arseniy Sergeev, who at that time represented the cultural agency "Artpolitika". The production of the project was carried out with the technical support of Atomstroykompleks. Despite the high popularity among citizens and guests of the city, the project has not acquired the official status of a monument or attraction. In fact, not recognized by local authorities as a culturally significant object, the keyboard nevertheless entered many unofficial guidebooks around Yekaterinburg. In the spring of 2011, drawing on the pavement of the Red Line began with it, passing through 32 main attractions of the city center.

Design features

The monument is a copy of a concrete keyboard on a scale of 30:1. It consists of 104 keys made of concrete weighing from 100 to 500 kg, arranged in a QWERTY / JZUKEN layout. The keys are located in depressions at intervals of 15 cm. The total area of ​​the project is 16 × 4 m. The surface of the keys is flat with embossed symbols of the alphabet and function symbols, placed in the same order as on a conventional computer keyboard.

Cultural features and assessments

The concrete "Keyboard" can be considered both as a fetish of the computer age and as an industrial "rock garden", a large-scale, environmental experiment that forms a new communication environment on the territory of the Yekaterinburg city embankment. Each button of the concrete keyboard is at the same time an impromptu bench. The monument has become a cultural landmark of the modern image of the city and a new "brand".

A positive resonance regarding the project is observed among all segments of the city's population. Monitoring the reaction of passers-by on the embankment showed that in 80% of cases the reaction of passers-by is enthusiastic, in other cases it is interested. Residents of the city are proud of the implementation of such a project on the territory of the city, in which they are primarily attracted by the non-standard incarnation and the modernity of the image.

In February 2019, the Yandex company published statistics on Russian search queries related to museums, attractions and exhibitions. In the ranking of monuments, the monument to the keyboard was in 2nd place: it was only ahead of the Bronze Horseman in St. Petersburg, the third was the monument to Minin and Pozharsky on Red Square in Moscow.

Object security issues

Until June 2011, several keys were stolen from the monument (keys F1 , F2 , F3 , Y), and the Apple logo was applied to the ⊞ Win key.

In this regard, in June 2011, the head of the public art program of the Perm Museum of Contemporary Art PERMM, Nailya Allahverdiyeva, proposed moving the monument to the keyboard to neighboring Perm. According to her, no one cared about him in Yekaterinburg, and the Perm Museum was very interested in this art object.

But thanks to the efforts of the Yekaterinburg initiative group, which included Evgeny Zorin, Lidia Karelina, director of Litek LLC Nadezhda Zaostrovnykh, on August 17, 2011, the lost keys were restored. The repair of the monument was made possible thanks to Anton Borisenko, director of the Union Trucks company, which sells and maintains trucks. During the restoration work, the author of the monument Anatoly Vyatkin was present.

According to the project coordinator, Nadezhda Zaostrovnykh, thanks to the repair, the famous Yekaterinburg landmark will definitely not go to Perm now. “But the problem remains, I would like the largest keyboard in the world to be included in the register of monuments, protected by the state and no one could ever take it from us. To do this, we have drawn up a collective appeal to enter the monument to the keyboard in the register cultural property, On July 30, 2011, on the Day of the system administrator, more than 100 signatures were collected and on August 4, 2011 they transferred everything to the city administration. We are still waiting for an answer,” said Nadezhda Zaostrovnykh.

With the filing of Yevgeny Zorin and like-minded people, regular cultural events began to be held at the monument, the main of which is the so-called annual “Subbotnik on the Keyboard”. During the “subbotnik”, keys are cleaned and painted, and championships are held in throwing non-working computer mice to a distance, lifting a bunch of hard drives, etc. In 2017, two volunteers from the USA took part in the painting procedure. Also on the last Friday of July at the keyboard, SysAdmin Day is officially held with similar competitions.